Ridge Girls Fencing Captures Championship Gold

Editor's Note: The information for this story was provided by Robert Pelos, president of the Ridge Fencing Association.

The girls fencing team has captured the New Jersey State Epee Squad Championship, with a combined 35 victories by fencers Sarah Jones, Amy Tong and Amanda Choy. The trio finished three victories ahead of second place Bernards High School, who Ridge previously had edged out for a District I gold medal in epee squad competition in early February.

The New Jersey State Epee title was awarded on Feb. 26 at the NJSIAA/Bollinger squad tournament at North Hunterdon Regional High School in Clinton Township. Third place winner was Bergen Tech with 31 victories in the tournament.

Boys Epee Squad Earns Silver

The Ridge Boys Epee squad earned a silver medal with 33 victories last Saturday narrowly losing to Mendham who had 34 victories. The Ridge Epee squad of Connor Pelos, Matt Yin, and Jake Lee had beaten Mendham previously in the month a District I gold medal, but Mendham avenged that loss with the team's narrow victory over the weekend.

Fencing season ended March 4

The high school fencing season came to an end on Sunday, March 4, with the NJSIAA Individual State Championships. Ridge was represented by Connor Pelos (epee), Lance Shen-Kinney (saber), Sarah Jones (epee), Michelle Shin (saber), and Amy Tong (epee). All of the students had qualified for the event by placing in the top five within their weapon category at the District I tournament.

Three Ridge fencers — Pelos, 5th place, Jones, 7th place and Shen-Kinney, 8th place, fought their way to the final round of the event before bowing out to a very competitive field of elite fencers. In early February, Amanda Choy, a freshman, and sophomore Amy Tong each won gold medals in epee at the Frosh/Soph Skylands Conference Invitational held at Voorhees High School in Glen Gardner.

At that same event, Jake Lee, a sophomore, won a gold medal in epee along with six other Ridge fencers who placed in the top six within their school class and weapon.

"The future of the Ridge fencing team is looking extremely bright based on all of these season ending results," said Robert Pelos, president of the Ridge Fencing Association. The Ridge fencing team is coached by Anastasia Ferdman (girls team head coach), Slava Danylov (boys team head coach), and Maksim Zaitsev (assistant coach).